Rep. Vargas joins fast for immigration reform

Proponents of immigration reform have waved signs on street corners, conducted sit-ins, marched by the thousands and lobbied legislators with letters and phone calls. Now they are engaged in what has become their most prominent ongoing effort to advance their platform: fasting.

Whether the strategy will help them break a long impasse in Congress over the immigration issue remains to be seen. The odds for passage of a comprehensive immigration bill this year have essentially died, and the prospects for early 2014 are widely seen as shaky.

For more than three weeks, a group of immigrant advocates has garnered headlines around the world by jointly fasting at the national mall in Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, joined their cause by eschewing food for a day.

He and other like-minded activists are pushing for reforms that include a pathway to citizenship for the millions of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States. Their opponents want to focus on bolstering border security, increasing deportations and upping other forms of interior enforcement before taking up any discussion of citizenship.

Vargas was the second House of Representatives member to participate in the Washington fast. He took over for Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., and is set to pass the baton to fellow Democratic Rep. Joe Garcia of Florida today.

Others who have been part of the fasting movement include certain religious leaders, college students and labor unions — in San Diego and nationwide. For example, some local members of the Service Employees International Union will go without food today. And two fasting rallies have been held outside of the Vista office of Republican Rep. Darrell Issa, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

On Dec. 12, the group Border Angels plans told hold a day of fasting to stress the need for “humane immigration policies,” said Enrique Morones of San Diego, founder of the organization.

“While we have chosen to fast, undocumented immigrants are forced to endure the gnawing sense of dread that they could be ripped away from their families at any moment,” Vargas, who represents southern San Diego County along the U.S.-Mexico border, said in a statement. “I hope that this fast helps open the hearts and minds of my colleagues across the aisle.”

Supporters of the fasting strategy, known as Fast for Families, said they will press on until Congress sends a major immigration-reform bill to the president.

“Fasting shows that people are willing to sacrifice something that is near and dear to all of our survival,” said Caroline Theiss-Aird of Vista, who has helped coordinate the local Fast for Families events.

The movement began in Washington on Nov. 12, when Fast for Families was created in an effort to spur Congress to address immigration reform. The Democratic-led Senate passed a broad bill on the issue this spring, but leaders in the Republican-controlled House have said they want to target more narrowly defined immigration changes.

During the D.C. fasting campaign, anchored by a tent on the mall, President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and others have visited to express support for the participants.

Advocacy groups from San Diego to New York City have expressed solidarity by holding periodic fasts at locations such as churches and outside lawmakers’ offices.

The fasting rallies targeting Issa in Vista took place Nov. 21 and 22. Participants delivered a letter to his staff inviting him to join them in the cause.

“Thanksgiving was coming up and all of the food on our table, everything has been provided by the work of immigrants,” Theiss-Aird said.

She and the other rally members ended their fast by eating vegetables harvested by local farmworkers.

Joe Kasper, spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R–Alpine, said it is difficult to keep track of all the advocacy efforts because many groups are waging many campaigns. He said Hunter’s office did not know about the fasting events until it was asked about them Wednesday.

“If you really want to catch the attention of people who are in a position to make decisions, there are probably better ways to go about it,” Kasper said. “Immigration reform is in fact on the minds of nearly every member of Congress, and there is not one member who does not recognize in some way, shape or form the necessity to something on the issue of border security and then repairing the immigration system.”

Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, said she wants the House to take a vote soon on the matter.

“I support all those fasting and shining a bright light on the necessity for real immigration reform,” she said in an email. “I agree that it will be the social and economic engine for our region and our country at large.”